Benji Durden made the 1980 Olympic Team but didn’t get to compete because of President Jimmy Carter’s decision to boycott the Moscow Games in response to the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan.

“I had mixed feelings,” said Durden, who finished second to Tony Sandoval in the marathon Olympic Trials. “I didn’t think it was right that Afghanistan was being invaded, but I also didn’t feel that we were going to make any difference. It was another one of these situations where (athletes) were the only ones who were really paying the price.

“It didn’t help the Olympic movement at all; it didn’t help the Afghanis at all. It was just a token gesture that didn’t do anything.”

John Meyer, The Denver Post

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